Archive for September, 2009

Social Media Spending on the Rise

Friday, September 25th, 2009 by Heather Carr

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Social media campaigns are predicted to grow in the coming years despite recession budget cuts.

Even with the economic downturn, marketers plan to increase monies spent on social media advertising campaigns.  According to the recently released Forrester Reasearch US Interactive Marketing Forecast, social media is set to see a compound annual growth rate of 34 percent over the next seven years.  This tops the list of key online advertising channels predicted to experience growth over the same period.

The growth amounts to an estimated $2.35 billion spent on social network advertising campaigns worldwide in 2009 according to Emarketer.  Recent research conducted by the European Interactive Advertisers Association (EIAA) delivered similar findings.  According to the EIAA study, European advertisers are opting to invest in online campaigns over traditional media outlets.  All good news for social media sites, which provide a unique opportunity for users to spread the word about their favorite products and Web sites.

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Will User-Generated Content Reach Its Commercial Potential?

Friday, September 18th, 2009 by Heather Carr

manUser-generated content has become a valuable part of the web experience for millions. A recent Emarketer survey estimates that nearly 60 percent of internet users are already involved in the user-generated content trend, and that number is predicted to grow. The amount of user-created content on the web is also growing at an astounding rate. The number of user-generated content creators is now estimated at 82.5 million. This translates to 42.8 percent of internet users now sharing their thoughts and creativity online.

Despite the popularity of user-generated sites, advertisers remain hesitant. The fear of attaching their brands to unpredictable content leaves this market resource untapped. The sales potential makes the search for social media safe havens appealing to both marketers and site publishers. Once this up-and-coming media channel has been effectively balanced with editorial and vendor content, we may finally realize the full potential of this content-generation explosion.

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Industrial Marketers Seek Quality Leads Online

Friday, September 11th, 2009 by Heather Carr

The recently released report, Trends in Industrial Marketing 2009: How Manufacturers are Marketing Today revealed that 29 percent of respondents named lead generation as their primary marketing goal.  This response was topped only by the 44 percent of respondents who pointed to customer acquisition as their primary target.  Customer retention was the primary focus for another 13 percent, while brand awareness rounded off the list with 11 percent.

The report, which was published by GlobalSpec, also found that while lead generation is of primary importance for many industrial marketers, lead quality takes precedence over lead quantity when it comes to distributing funds.  Fifty-three percent said they will “choose marketing programs that are measurable.”  While sixty-nine percent said they will “closely evaluate the performance of marketing programs and reduce or eliminate programs that don’t perform well.”

The survey revealed that three out of the top four marketing channels for generating quality leads are online.  The online sources industrial marketers are turning to most often are online directories/websites, e-mail marketing to house lists, and SEO. More than 60 percent of those polled said they are including each of these in their marketing strategy this year.

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The Latest on Online Lead Generation

Thursday, September 3rd, 2009 by Heather Carr

Online lead generation has become increasingly more important for businesses today, many of which are putting more of their marketing efforts into digital channels in an effort to generate business.  Econsultancy together with Clash-Media recently released some interesting statistics on online lead generation.  For the third Online Lead Generation (B2C) Report released by the duo, there were more than 600 respondents surveyed in May and June, 2009. Here are a few of the key findings: 

  1. 65 percent of company respondents indicated that their use of online lead generation has increased in the last year, compared to 11 percent who reported a decrease.
  2. The most widely perceived benefit of online lead generation is the ability to increase the prospect list and customer base, seen as a benefit by 73 percent of company respondents.
  3. There is a continued trend towards decreased use of offline channels for generating consumer leads.
  4. Quality of leads and return on investment are seen as the most important factors when assessing online lead generation campaigns.
  5. The average proportion of lead generation budget which is spent online has increased to 61 percent from 53 percent in 2008.

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